Examining Stakeholder Perspectives: Process, Performance and Progress of the Age-Friendly Taiwan Program

Li-Ju Lin, Yu-Chang Hsu, Andrew E. Scharlach and Hsien-Wen Kuo
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Li-Ju Lin: Health Promotion Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taipei 10341, Taiwan
Yu-Chang Hsu: Health Promotion Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taipei 10341, Taiwan
Andrew E. Scharlach: School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-7400, USA
Hsien-Wen Kuo: Alliance of Healthy Cities in Taiwan, Taipei 11221, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 4, 1-9

Abstract: Since Taiwan’s age-friendly city (AFC) program was launched in 2012, the central government has provided various resources to the country’s 22 local authorities, including budgetary support, policy advocacy, and consultation from a team of experts. This study examines stakeholder perspectives on the process, performance, and outcome of the AFC program. A 53-item questionnaire was developed based on the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline, including mechanisms and processes (20 items), outcome evaluations (23 items), and resource integration (10 items). There was a “great difference” found among scores between facilitators and experts for “inter-exchange experience with local and international cities” (40%) and “monitor and revise indicators” (37%) in mechanisms and processes, “evaluate performance of indicators and action plans” (37%) in outcome evaluations, and “interaction between government and community” (46%) and “interaction between civil organization and senior society” (39%) in resource integration. Clearly, facilitators showed overly optimistic assessments in AFC mechanisms and processes, outcome evaluation, and resource integration. The results showed disconnect between experts’ expectations versus actual practice conducted by facilitators. Implications of these findings are to integrate top down expectations with the realities of bottom up practice to design more realistic evaluations; continue to educate stakeholders about design, implementation and evaluation; and further integrate resources from government, civil organizations, and community.

Keywords: perception; age-friendly; facilitators; experts (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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